The Montgomery County Young Democrats met at the Rockville Memorial Library at 7 PM on Tuesday, December 12th. President Michael DeLong called the meeting to order. He briefly reviewed the club’s finances—MCYD currently has $10,463.36 in our bank account.
The club then held elections for the Executive Board. After the candidates made short speeches, the following candidates were elected.
- Michael DeLong as President
- Teresa Woorman as Vice President
- Saif Shamim as Treasurer
- Victoria Tajzai as Programs Director
- Ezra Pine as Communications Director
- Steven Cenname as Secretary
- Thomas Jackson as Membership Director
We then heard from several speakers about their issues and priorities for the 2024 legislative session. They were:
- Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr-District 17
- Delegate Jared Solomon-District 18
- Delegate Lily Qi-District 15
- Ira Unger, representing Delegate Bonnie Cullision-District 19
Delegate Lily Qi spoke first. She thanked us for being interested in the legislative session and emphasized that legislators need to hear more from young people. She represents a diverse district and serves on the Economic Matters Committee, which deals with utilities, commerce, climate change, and cannabis reform. Qi works to make Maryland more competitive and promote economic development, especially for small businesses and research innovation. She fought to remove a $300 filing fee for businesses that served no good purpose and fought for paid family and medical leave.
Delegate Qi opposes closed primaries and has a bill that will delay the party registration deadline until the day before early voting starts. In 2024 she plans to focus on clean energy bills, like solar power for low-income communities. She told us that we are looking at brutal budget cuts, especially to transportation funding and education. Also, an end of life bill will be reintroduced next session.
Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr spoke next. She serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, and will focus on education, to keep implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future although there will have to be tweaks. State finances are in trouble and we need to raise more revenue. The pandemic aid helped but it is gone. There will be a push to close corporate tax loopholes and have a millionaire’s income tax, and they could use our support for this.
Carr will have a bill on universal preschool meals and is working on some election law bills, especially about vacancies. There will also be bills on roadway safety issues.
Delegate Jared Solomon spoke next. He is on the speaker’s leadership team and serves on the Appropriations Committee, which has oversight over personnel. Maryland faces a $200 million imbalance next year, which isn’t too bad, but going forward will be a problem. Education funding—the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future—is funded through 2027.
Prince George’s County got the FBI headquarters and Baltimore got designated a tech hub, which also helps. The Rainy Day Fund is at 10% of our revenue. We need a conversation about taxes. The Maryland Department of Transportation put out a budget and it has big cuts—a $3 billion shortfall. The budget does include funding for Metro, so those cuts shouldn’t be too bad, but highway fees will be cut by 40% and every capital investment project gets cut as well. The Legislature should raise rolls to get more money, and we need your help to pressure our Senate colleagues. Finally, Solomon will be working on some childcare bills.
Finally, Ira Unger spoke on behalf of Delegate Bonnie Cullison. Cullison is the Vice Chair of Health and Government Operations. She will have a bill to let undocumented immigrants go into the Maryland Health Exchanges, and she thinks it will pass next year. Her other goal is to increase access to mental health services. The end of life bill, or death with dignity bill, will be reintroduced—under certain very specific conditions, if someone has a terminal illness, they could decide to end their life.
Ira concluded by saying that the Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which will set limits on the prices that the state will pay for prescription drugs, will soon start its work in the next six months.
Victoria asked: I have often seen one time funds used to fund programs that are continuous and not time. Will you look at this? We need more funding and fiscal oversight? Make sure that funds are being used well. Delegate Solomon said they could do this, and that Hogan hollowed out the state government. When there is one time money, the Legislature tries to use it for investments. We need more staff and time to examine the budget. No bid contracts have also been increasing, and the Legislature is working on audits.
Saif asked: can you talk about the MCDCC and what makes it more transparent than other central committees? Carr: MCDCC outlines a process for filling vacancies, interview candidates, make the process public. Holding special elections costs money, but Senator Ferguson supports a bill to require them when possible. And my bill requires Central Committee members to apply to fill legislative vacancies to rescuse themselves.
The meeting ended at 8:40 PM.